Insight Online – August 2022

The Pharmacy Show: 16 – 17 October 2022

The Pharmacy Show returns this year for two days on 16 to 17 October 2022 at the NEC, Birmingham. The show is a major gathering of pharmacy professionals and provides an opportunity to network with others in the sector and learn more about the profession. We are running two sessions at the Pharmacy Show this year titled ‘LGBT+ inclusion in Pharmacy’ and ‘Medicines to Ukraine’.

Plus those attending will get:

• Access to all eight theatres, covering a huge range of topics as well as big issue discussions around the current issues.
• 200 expert industry speakers, a world-class conference programme, and more than 300 leading suppliers.
• Explore a lively exhibition, meet with suppliers, and test products and innovations.
• Arrange an overdue catch-up, relax and socialise with friends and colleagues or meet with like-minded connections from online communities.

We are able to offer members a complimentary event ticket to the Pharmacy Show. PDA members can click here to get their FREE ticket today.

Data shows largest multiples close more than fifteen times more often than other owners

Data provided in response to Freedom of Information requests in Scotland shows that the largest pharmacy businesses closed branches for full or part days at more than 15 times the rate of other community pharmacies.

Data received from NHS Health Boards in Scotland has enabled us to identify the difference in closures rates between types of pharmacy businesses. By comparing the reported closures of those largest community pharmacy chains, the eight members of the Company Chemists Association (CCA) against other pharmacy owners, a significant difference has been highlighted.

Official figures show that during the first five months of 2022 non-CCA member pharmacies reported 114 occasions across Scotland that they had to close due to unforeseen events. We fully understand that 100% opening in accordance with the commitments given to the NHS is never likely to be achieved in practice as genuinely unforeseen circumstances may occur that cause unexpected closures, such as last-minute sickness, power cuts, extreme weather, etc.

Pharmacy leadership organisations should play a role within a healthy leadership ecosystem if pharmacy is to flourish

PDA Chairman, Mark Koziol comments on the role of Pharmacy leadership bodies:

Many older pharmacists will recall that I used to be an elected member of the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB), but because the Peppermint Water Case left me very concerned about the amount of influence that the large multiples had within the society, I stood down in 2000, to set up the PDA in 2003.

Some may also remember that I was one of the four pharmacists who set up the Save our Society (SoS) campaign in 2004, when it became clear that the government and their Chief Pharmacists were trying to stop the society from being a membership body and wanted to turn it into solely a regulator.